Advances in semiconductor manufacturing technologies have resulted in dramatically increased circuit packing densities and higher speeds of operation. In order to achieve such increased densities a wide variety of evolutionary changes have taken place with respect to semiconductor processing techniques and semiconductor device structures over the years.
Similarly, advances in digital systems architecture and circuit design have resulted in greater functionality being packed into ever smaller areas of integrated circuits. One consequence of the increased speed and functionality of integrated circuits has been the development of products that require larger amounts data storage. Data storage may be referred to herein as memory.
What is needed are structures and methods for increasing the density of integrated circuit memory.
The figures illustrate various components, their arrangements, and interconnections. Unless expressly stated to the contrary, the figures are not necessarily drawn to scale.